


The Toy Test

by LadyBrooke



Series: The Test Series [2]
Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-22
Updated: 2013-05-22
Packaged: 2017-12-12 14:27:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/812604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyBrooke/pseuds/LadyBrooke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Námo has a plan to restore Maeglin to life. Unfortunately, with Turgon, Idril, and Eöl still in the Halls, his plan is to turn Maeglin into a child and drop him on Fingon's front porch.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Toy Test

“Hello, Maeglin”, Námo spoke, as he swept into the room. “I have decided on the manner of your return.”

Maeglin ignored Námo, in favor of being upset. Both his parents and his uncle were all currently ignoring him, for various reasons. It wasn’t fair. He had made horrible mistakes, but even the Fëanorions were being released now, and as long as those three kept arguing, they were all going to be stuck here forever.

Námo continued speaking, not acknowledging Maeglin’s lack of response. “As you know, while I’ve released Fingon and Fingolfin, the rest of your family remains here due to their refusal to admit that they all made mistakes”.

“I don’t even know them,” Maeglin grumbled.

“Of course you don’t. So, to solve this problem, I am going to reincarnate you as a child, at least until your Uncle grows frustrated with you...”Námo trailed off, as he watched Maeglin take form as a sleeping child.

“Thank you, brother,” he said to the new arrival in the room.

As Irmo opened his mouth to speak, both of them were interrupted by the arrival of a third member of the Valar. “What have you done now, husband? Was it not enough for my tapestries to be filled with stories of the House of Fëanor running around as the opposite gender? Now you must reincarnate poor elves as children and ship them off to Uncles that have never raised a child in their life, without any warning?”

“Vairë,” Námo began to protest.

“No, be quiet Námo. Now, you are going to write a letter to Fingon right now, and tell him about your little plan. Or so help me,” Námo gulped at the look on his wife’s face.

“I’m writing it!” Námo began to hurriedly write a letter to Fingon, detailing exactly what he had planned.

“Good,” Vairë snapped, turning towards Irmo. “And you. You get out of these Halls and return to your own gardens, and take no further part in my husband’s mischief.”

She watched satisfied as Irmo disappeared from the Halls, before glaring at her husband again. “Have you finished that letter? If you have, go take him and the letter to Maedhros’ house.”

“But Fingon is supposed to-” Námo begin to protest.

“Fingon will be at Maedhros’, and Maedhros has more experience with elflings. Now, go,” Vairë ordered.

“Yes, dear.” Námo shuddered as he disappeared from his Halls.

~

_Findekáno,_

_My wife has ordered me to write you a letter, as opposed to merely dropping your nephew on your doorstep without one._

_Maeglin is ready to leave my Halls, however, your siblings and brother-in-law are not. I believe he will do best with you._

_Sincerely,_

_Námo_

As Fingon finished reading the letter, he looked at the child asleep on the step. “Well, at least that explains who you are kid, unless I have more than one nephew, and he's just trying to be tricky. I have no idea why Námo thought it was alright to just leave you on the doorstep wrapped in a blanket, though.”

“Fingon? Who are you talking to?” Maedhros stumbled down the steps, obviously still half asleep.

“Maedhros! Brilliant, you’re down here. You know how to deal with small children, right?” Fingon said, balancing Maeglin on one hip.

Maedhros blinked. Then he blinked again, before finally speaking. “Fingon, where did you get a kid from? Please tell me you didn’t go out and bring one home like it was a stray puppy.”

Fingon sulked, for one second, before returning to his normal self. “I did not! Námo left Maeglin on your front porch. Apparently, he thinks Maeglin will do best with me.”

“Why does Námo think Maeglin will do best with you? You’ve never raised a kid, unless there’s a lot I missed,” Maedhros said, rubbing his head.

"Because Námo thinks my parents will forget him while having wild sex throughout the house?" Fingon suggested, before moving on. “So, you do know how to deal with small children, right?”

“Yes, I know how to deal with small children. I do have six younger brothers. How long do we have Maeglin for, and why is he currently a child?” Maedhros moved towards the kitchen, hoping there was something that was suitable to feed Maeglin.

“For the same reason Námo turned you all into girls? I don’t know.” Fingon shrugged, grabbing an apple off the counter.

Maedhros had finally located some oatmeal and started preparing breakfast for all three of them. “Right. So we have no real idea why Maeglin is a child, and unlike Caranthir, has no idea that he should be an adult.”

Fingon stopped chewing his apple for a moment, and swallowed. “You know, he could know that he’s an adult. He hasn’t woken up yet.”

Maedhros stared at him, before shaking his head. “See if you can wake him up and find out what he knows, while I finish breakfast.”

“Will do!” Fingon exclaimed before leaving the room. Approximately thirty seconds later, Maedhros ran out of the room, in search of the loud banging noises and screaming child.

Sliding into the living room, he grabbed onto the door frame to straighten himself up. “Fingon! What are you doing?” he screamed over the noise, wincing when it made Maeglin start crying even louder. He bent down and picked him up, hoping that he wouldn’t be kicked.

“Waking him up?” Fingon’s tone said that he was somewhat aware that this wasn’t the best way to wake a child.

“With a drum?” Maedhros moaned.

“Ata said I used to wake him and Amil up with one,” Fingon said defensively.

Maedhros groaned. “It’s completely different for children to wake adults up with drums; adults should never wake children up with one. Now, breakfast is almost done.” He turned from Fingon and addressed Maeglin. “I hope you like oatmeal.”

“Apples?” Maeglin sniffled.

“Yes, we have apples,” Maedhros spoke softly.

Maeglin started to suck on his thumb, before Maedhros eased it out of his mouth. Looking around, Maeglin seemed to be gathering his courage. “Apples in oatmeal?”

“Yes, you can have apples in your oatmeal,” glancing behind him, Maedhros motioned for Fingon to follow him.

~

After finishing their own breakfast, Maedhros and Fingon were standing near the sink talking, hoping that Maeglin wouldn’t overhear them.

“I don’t think he recalls that he was an adult. I just don’t understand why,” Maedhros said as he washed some of the dishes. “My brothers and I all recalled our proper selves when we were stuck as girls, and knew what we had to do to get back to our rightful bodies. The fact that he doesn’t makes me uneasy.”

Fingon was uneasy too. “Maybe it’s not something he does? What if it’s based on something that one of us, or my parents, or somebody does? He seems happy…” Fingon trailed off, watching Maeglin eating his apple slices. As Maedhros and he had been informed by a cheerful Maeglin, the only proper way to eat oatmeal with apples was to let the oatmeal suck up some of the apple flavor, eat the oatmeal, and then finish with the now soft apples.

“And you think that he wasn’t happy growing up with your sister and brother-in-law,” Maedhros stated.

“I’m sure they treated him alright, but…” Fingon broke off and stared for a few minutes. “You remember my sister, Maedhros, and I’ve heard about my brother-in-law. Constantly being told that one side of your family or the other is bad isn’t healthy for a child. But that’s what his childhood was like. And then, dragging him off to see your brothers? I love them, you know, but it is not appropriate to drag your son off to see the guy that you used to love, who likely still loves you. Oh, and at the time, both your brothers despised my brother-in-law and are extremely unlikely to have been quiet about it.”

Maedhros nodded before sighing. “I agree with everything, but we just don’t know how long he’s going to be like this. I think I’ll find Maglor and Elrond today. I’ll see if Maglor would like to watch him sometimes if he’s stuck like this for a while, and if Elrond can give us a better idea on exactly what age he is.”

Fingon smiled suddenly, “If we have no idea how long he’ll be like this, I think I’ll go visit my parents, see if I can get some money from Atar to buy him some toys, and then we’ll come back here so Elrond can look at him. But I might as well have fun with him while I can, right?”

“Fun with who?” Maeglin piped up from beside them, having sneaked up with his finished bowl.

Fingon recovered quickly, picking up Maeglin (bowl and all) and swinging him around. “Fun with you, my dear nephew. We’ll go see your grandparents today, and Uncle Fingon will teach you all about how to wrap them around your little finger at some point soon. Plus, we can go buy you some toys while we’re out, how does that sound?”

“Really? We can really go do all that?” Maeglin questioned. At Fingon’s nod, he excitedly exclaimed, “Oh! That sounds like a lot of fun! Can we go now?”

Chuckling, Fingon nodded once more. “Maeglin and I will see you later, Maedhros!”

Behind them, Maedhros was unable to even say goodbye before they were out the front door. Shaking his head, he began to prepare to leave himself.

~

“Now, Maeglin, the best way to get your Grandfather to give you whatever you want is to catch him before he is fully awake.” Fingon said, prying the door to Fingolfin’s house open quietly.

“Is that what we’re doing now, Uncle?” Although the drums had not been the best start to a possible relationship, Fingon had been able to overcome this with his nephew. Currently, Maeglin was staring up at him with a look of hero-worship, convinced that his Uncle knew everything there possibly was to know about having fun.

“Yes, that’s what we’re doing now.” Fingon whispered as they walked through the hallways. “We’re going to go knock on his bedroom door, and hope that he is still asleep.”

Having reached their destination somewhat silently, Fingon enacted part two of getting money to buy the best toys. Motioning to Maeglin, both of them began to pound on the door. A few seconds later, the door was thrown open, and Fingolfin stood before them yawning.

“Hi Ata! I was wondering, could I borrow some money to buy your grandson toys? It’s just that I really want him to have the best, and I don’t think I have enough money for that, but look at how cute he is! Please Atar!” Fingon said this all very fast, which was part three of his plan. Speaking quickly enough, Fingon would keep Fingolfin from processing everything he said properly.

Fingolfin stared at him for a few seconds, before nodding. “Yes, yes, whatever you need. Money is in my desk, you know where. I’m going back to bed.” Ignoring the excited yells from behind him, and the running footsteps as they left the building, Fingolfin did exactly that. As he wearily fell back into bed, he reached around to hold his wife.

“Dear? What did Fingon want?” Anairë mumbled into his shoulder.

Fingolfin thought for a second. “He said that he wanted to buy toys for our grandson.” His eyes closed after he finished speaking, only to pop open a second later as he shot upright, Anairë soon following him.

“Grandson? Oh dear, what has he done now?” Fingolfin said, searching frantically for his clothes. “He is still living with Maedhros, isn’t he?”

Anairë bit her bottom lip, “I think he is. We’ll just have to go find him and see what this is all about.”

Fingolfin was already worrying, “I hope he didn’t steal some poor child off the street.”

“Nolo! Our son would not steal anybody’s child!” Anairë exclaimed as she hit him with her dress, before pulling it on. “Now, if you’re finished getting dressed, we’ll just go find him and see who this grandson is.”

~

“You’re quite serious, brother?” Maglor stared over his tea cup at Maedhros, while Elrond sipped at his.

“Yes, I’m completely and utterly serious. Maeglin – or at least that’s who the letter said he was – arrived on my steps this morning, apparently courtesy of Námo,” Maedhros explained for the third time since he had arrived.

Elrond broke in at this point, “But unlike when you and the majority of your brothers were reincarnated, Maeglin has no idea of what his adult life was like?”

“No, he doesn’t,” Maedhros sighed. “Both of you will come with me and help?”

“Of course I will, Maedhros. I followed you for most of the First Age, I see no reason to doubt you now.” To Maglor, the idea of not helping his brothers was as foreign as if somebody announced that Olwë would now be King of the Noldor. It was simply impossible.

When Elrond nodded, Maedhros sighed again, this time out of relief. “Shall we leave as soon as we finish our tea?” After hearing agreement once more, he settled back in his chair to enjoy a nice break from the events of the morning.

~

Fingon had taken Maeglin immediately to the biggest toy store in Tirion and set him loose with the instruction to place anything he wanted in a cart. While he wasn’t sure they would be able to get everything on this trip, Fingon was determined to do his best. Strolling up the aisles himself, he found several balls, a bike, and a kit that was supposed to allow you to blow things up (well, technically, it was to conduct experiments. Fingon was convinced however that between the two of them, and hiding it from Maedhros, they would be able to blow something up.) As he was bent over examining a series of elf figures that could apparently move, he felt his arm being tugged on. Looking down, he saw Maeglin struggling under the weight of several stuffed animals.

“Is this all you want, kiddo?” Maeglin shook his head shyly and motioned down the aisle.

“What else do you want?” Fingon asked, as he followed.

“Mole!” Maeglin exclaimed when they reached a shelf full of stuffed animals, before ducking his head again.

“No need to be shy, you can have your mole,” Fingon said as he stretched upwards to grab it.

After he had paid for all the toys, he watched amused as Maeglin immediately grabbed the mole from the bag and hugged it to his chest as they walked back to the house.

~

Within an hour of being home, Fingon and Maeglin had already destroyed one of Maedhros’ pots, a planter, and three towels by explosion and fire. As this had used up most of the materials in the experiment kit, they had moved on to a more peaceful activity. At the moment, they were throwing a ball around in the yard, while waiting for somebody else to arrive home.

“Now, if you kick the ball this way, it should go forward in a straight line,” Fingon instructed Maeglin about how to kick the ball. Before Maeglin could actually kick it, they saw Maedhros appear around the corner, leading Maglor and Elrond.

“Hello-” Fingon cut himself off as he felt Maeglin hide behind his legs. Turning around and kneeling, he plucked him from the ground and held him up. “Come on, I promise neither of them are going to hurt you. That’s Maedhros’ brother and nephew.”

Maeglin shook his head and tried to burrow further against Fingon. “Don’t want to meet them. Want to stay with you.”

“You’re staying with me, regardless of whether you meet them or not,” Fingon soothed, only to be startled as Maeglin broke into tears.

“Don’t wanna! Amil said the same thing, and then she was gone arguing with Adar again!” Elrond winced at this, and crossed the lawn quickly.

“Atar? Uncle? Would you two please go inside and make us all some lunch?” He waited until the two of them had entered the house before continuing. “Maeglin? Can you look at me? You can continue to hold onto your Uncle, but will you turn your head so you can see me?”

Maeglin sniffled, and shook his head, as Fingon began to plead with him too. “Maeglin, please, can you just look at Elrond? You can hold onto one of my braids if you want. Would that make you feel better?”

Maeglin sniffled again, before grabbing onto one of Fingon’s braids and grasping it in his hand as tightly as he could. Fingon winced, but didn’t try to loosen it as Maeglin slowly turned his head to stare at Elrond.

“My mother said something like that to me, too. And she left just like yours did, though for different reasons. But Maeglin, other people do mean that when they say it. I grew up with Maedhros and Maglor, and both of them never told me they were going to stay if they weren’t. You have to trust Fingon and Maedhros, okay? Can you do that for them?” Elrond spoke calmly.

Maeglin’s grip on Fingon’s braid tightened when Elrond first started talking, before relaxing at the end. “I guess…but I don’t have to leave and go somewhere where I can’t see Uncle Fingon, do I?” His grip tightened once more.

Quickly, Fingon cut in, hoping that he still had some hair left by the end of the day. “No, I’ll stay where you can see me until you feel more comfortable. But we have to go eat, and assure Maedhros and Maglor that we’re all okay.” Fingon stood up, carrying Maeglin. “When we get inside the house, do you think you can sit in your own chair for me?”

Maeglin nodded.

~

Lunch had gone well. Maglor was well suited for distracting small children, and after he had finished his own sandwich had begun a lively song about a dog. Soon, Maeglin was giggling as he clapped along with the song, though he kept an eye on Fingon at all times.

Half way through Maglor’s next song about a mole, which Fingon strongly suspected Maglor was making up off the top of his head, they were interrupted by knocks on the front door.

Maedhros opened it, and judging from the sounds coming from the hallway, whoever was on the other side was not happy. Finally, after they had all sat there awkwardly for a while, unsure if they should get up and venture to help Maedhros or assume he could handle it, Maedhros led Anairë and Fingolfin into the room.

Immediately after entering, Fingolfin turned to his son. “Fingon, I don’t ask you to do much. But if something like this happens again, will you please give me a little more information about what is going on? I shouldn’t have to spend an entire morning exploring Tirion and interrogating Maedhros to find out what you meant by grandson.”

“Oh…I forgot to tell you who exactly I had with me, didn’t I? Well, you’ll be glad to know that he and I had a good morning.” Fingon hoped that his parents would quickly become distracted by their grandchild. It appeared that Eru was in the mood to grant his wishes this morning, because Fingolfin and Anairë soon became entirely enthralled with Maeglin.

Now, as long he could cure Maeglin of this need to be near him at all times, he and Maedhros could continue their normal lives, though with the addition of a nephew currently stuck as a child. Still, Maeglin could hardly be more trouble than Celegorm...

~

“My dear wife,” Námo began, “You were aware of my plans for Maeglin, weren’t you?”

Vairë stared at her husband, before gaining a satisfied smirk to her face. “Of course I was. Did you expect me to agree with you on your plans? Because really, giving Maeglin the body of a child but letting him keep his adult mind would have been quite cruel. And to take away his chance at a normal childhood, would be even crueler. Did I misjudge you, and you are really a cruel, selfish Vala, or are you the kind lord I remember, my dear?”

Námo knew when he had been beaten. It was no use to try and convince his wife that his plan would have been better for Maeglin, she had already made up her mind. “No dear, I don’t think you misjudged me. I merely thought that Maeglin would be glad to become an adult as soon as possible.”

“Then perhaps you should have spent more time with Maeglin while he was here. It’s obvious to anybody that bothered to talk to him that what he really wanted was a normal childhood. And while I couldn’t give him the perfect childhood with his mother, because she’s still here, we could arrange for him to grow up happily with his Uncle. Don’t you agree this is better?”

Námo nodded, and Vairë let herself smile. Námo thought that she had been unaware or approving of his recent activities. For the most part, they had taught the people involved a valuable lesson, so she had let them continue. But with this one, Námo needed to remember that he wasn’t always right.


End file.
